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liquor laws in Vermont

vhalbeckvhalbeck
First Comment
in Vermont
Hi There,

I'm helping a good friend plan her wedding in Vermont.  Does someone have any knowledge of the liquor rules for serving alcohol in Vermont to large groups of people?  It will be a private event on private property.  

 Are licenses necessary for private property events?
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Re: liquor laws in Vermont

  • nraymond1nraymond1
    First Comment
    I've never heard of that being an issue, I figure you're not selling it, you should be ok but maybe check the state website?
    BabyFetus Ticker
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  • candygurl15candygurl15
    First Comment
    We ran into alcohol issues with our wedding.  Neither of us are from the state but wanted to provide our own alcohol for the reception.  We figured we could save money by getting it in bulk from Costco.  We were told we could NOT bring our own.  By law it has to be served by a bartender.  We are on a super tight budget so we worked out a deal with the venue.  We're going to pre-purchase kegs through the bartender and have open beer.  Not my ideal situation but it works.
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  • vivid412vivid412
    First Comment
    I plan events on a fairly regular basis so I run into issues about the VT liquor laws a lot.  you must have an event permit for all events even private events.  The permit can take about 5 days to obtain so plan in advance.   Vermont prohibits an open bar in the traditional sense as the vendor has to submit a record of the consumption.  Generally you can pretty easily plan out the consumption of your group so accounting for 5 drinks per guest and pre paying for that shouldnt be an issue with most bar service companies.

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  • vivid412vivid412
    First Comment
    I plan events on a fairly regular basis so I run into issues about the VT liquor laws a lot.  you must have an event permit for all events even private events.  The permit can take about 5 days to obtain so plan in advance.   Vermont prohibits an open bar in the traditional sense as the vendor has to submit a record of the consumption.  Generally you can pretty easily plan out the consumption of your group so accounting for 5 drinks per guest and pre paying for that shouldnt be an issue with most bar service companies.

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  • ericNstephericNsteph
    First Comment
    edited January 2013
    I havent read all of the above posts, but I live in vermont and we are planning our wedding in vt as well.  I know one of the inns I called said they did not have a liquor license so the caterer/bartender would need to have the license/permit for the event unless we were planning on buying the alcohol ourselves and give it out like we were just having a party and not selling it to our friends,  I have not looked into it further yet but when I find out can let you know!
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  • subdolasubdola member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    We had our wedding our our property.  We bought our own alchol and served it to our guests.  We hired a guy to bartend, mostly to be the guy who opens the wine etc.  We did not need a permit, a license, or anything else to give us 'permission' to serve alcohol at a private party (really, that's what a wedding reception is) on our own private property.  
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